To a foreigner: interest could be charged on loans made to non-Israelites, (and they did not have to be released from debt in the seventh year; see 15.3). The interest was paid in advance of the loan.

That the LORD your God may bless you in all you undertake: see 12.7 and 15.10.

The land which you are entering to take possession of it: see 7.1.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

We cried to the LORD: the sense is that they protested, they prayed in anguish and pain to the LORD to rescue them.

The God of our fathers: again the sense is “our ancestors.” This is usually a reference to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In some languages direct speech will be used for the first part of this verse: “We called out to Yahweh the God our ancestors worshiped, saying, ‘Please help us!’ ”

The LORD heard our voice: that is, the LORD heard our prayers, our cries, our protests.

Saw our affliction … toil … oppression: again three terms that are similar in meaning are used to stress the desperate nature of their situation. Here Good News Translation uses three terms: “our suffering, hardship, and misery.” Contemporary English Version has only two: “we were in trouble and abused.” Another possible model for the final part of this verse is “He heard our cries for help, and saw how miserable we were as the Egyptians oppressed us and made us work hard.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Slays his neighbor in secret: the secret nature of the crime is made clear here, since no such curse is needed when the murderer is known. See the procedure laid out in 21.1-9. Contemporary English Version has “anyone who commits murder, even when there are no witnesses to the crime.” For “murder” see 5.17.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Plant vineyards and dress them: the verb dress here means to do all that is needed to make sure that the vines will grow strong and healthy; this includes cutting them back at the right time. Revised English Bible “cultivate” is better English for nonspecialists. For vineyards see the comment at 6.11.

Neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes: curiously enough, this is in reverse order to what actually takes place, and the translator must decide whether this will cause difficulty for the reader. Good News Translation reverses the order with “you will not gather their grapes or drink wine from them” (similarly Contemporary English Version).

The worm: an appropriate word must be found in the language, to speak of crop-eating worms or grubs (“the grub,” New Jerusalem Bible, Revised English Bible). Them in many languages will be expressed as “the grape vines.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Gave it for an inheritance: that is, “gave it to them to possess” (see 4.21).

The Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of the Manassites: see 3.12-17. It is better to have “the people of the tribes of Reuben, of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Beyond the sea: or “on the other side of the ocean” (Good News Translation), or “across the sea” (Contemporary English Version). This is another way of referring to some distant land.

The question here is similar to that in the previous verses and is used for the same purpose.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

In verses 4-6 Moses makes a brief statement of the reason for this charge against the people of Israel.

The Rock: a title for God; the Septuagint, in all places where this title appears in this song (also verses 15, 18, 30), translates “God.” The main idea of the metaphor (as in Psa 18.2) is that of defense, protection. Bible en français courant has “The LORD is a protecting rock,” Contemporary English Version “The LORD is a mighty rock”; but in some languages it may not be satisfactory to use simply a word for “rock.” Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy translate the meaning of the metaphor: “He is our protector”; BÍBLIA para todos Edição Comum has “He is our refuge,” while Revised English Bible has “the Creator,” drawing from verse 18, where God is spoken of as Creator. Good News Translation has “your mighty defender,” using the second person plural pronoun as required by what is coming in verse 5. It is recommended that the meaning be expressed by “strong defender,” “mighty protector,” or the like.

His work is perfect … all his ways are justice: the first two lines of the verse have almost the same meaning; one refers to Yahweh’s actions, the other to his manner of doing things. Good News Translation has “perfect and just in all his ways.”

A God of faithfulness and without iniquity: these final two lines expand on what was said about God in line two. The first quality, faithfulness, describes God as someone who does what he says he will do, who keeps his promise: “a trustworthy God” (New Jerusalem Bible). We may also say “You can always trust what he promises,” or even “He always does what he promises to do.” The second quality, without iniquity, describes him as never doing anything wrong; in this context, however, it may be that New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh “A faithful God, never false,” is closer to the meaning, the second term being the negative way of stating what the first one says. Another way to express this is “and never breaks his promises [or, words].”

Just and right: these are very close in meaning, with the sense of “true,” “upright,” “honest,” “fair.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

In verses 37-38 there is another shift in the pronouns referring to the people of Israel, from the third plural in verse 37 and the first part of verse 38 to the second person of direct address in the last part of verse 38.

Then he will say: it will be helpful for translators to show who Yahweh is speaking to here; for example, “Then Yahweh will ask his people” (see Good News Translation).

Their gods: the gods of the pagans, that Israel had gone to for help; so Good News Translation, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Bible en français courant, Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje. This makes sense (see verses 16-17) and is recommended to translators.

Where are their gods…? This is not a question for information about their whereabouts, but rather a mocking question. “What happened to those gods of yours in whom you trusted?” God tells the Israelites (end of verse 38) that they should go to them for help.

The rock in which they took refuge: for rock see verse 31. We may also express this as “The powerful gods they went to for protection?” (See also Good News Translation.)

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .